Every Drog has it’s day?

Dia dhuit again everyone, I do apologise unreservedly for that hideous pun, if you ever meet me, feel free to slap me with a cheese grater for that if you wish. I also eagerly await News International suing me for breach of copyright.

Anyhow, tonight marks the biggest game in Drogheda United’s 89-year history to date. They face the Ukrainians Dynamo Kiev at Dalymount Park tonight in the second qualifying stage of the Champions’ League, with the return leg at the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium in a week’s time. Drogheda secured this tie after seeing off Estonian champions Levadia Tallinn 3-1 on aggregate in the first stage, while Dynamo enter at this phase, looking to make their 11th group stage in 12 Champions’ League seasons, a run which has also encompassed being 2-0 and 3-1 up against Bayern Munich in the 1998-99 semi-final along with beating Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate home and away the year before. Put simply, Dynamo’s pedigree for this competition may not once be what it was, but with the exception of Fenerbahce, they are probably the strongest side in this competition at this stage.

Now, let’s not kid ourselves here. Drogheda are bigger outsiders than a three-legged rocking horse in the Grand National, but the experience alone will be fantastic for a club on the up in recent years. Dynamo may not have names like Andrei Shevchenko, Oleg Blokhin or Sergey Rebrov in their side anymore, but players like Olexsandr Shovkovsky, Goran Sablic and Maris Verpakovskis know how to play, and the more experience Drogheda gain against sides like Kiev, the more able they will be to handle such opposition in time to come and compete in future years. As long as Drogheda are competitive to some degree and trouble Dynamo at some point, then it will not be a wasted excursion. Granted, it would have been nice if the Drogs could have played one of the lesser sides on the other side of the draw and give themselves a real chance of making the final stage of qualifying, but in a situation like this, against a side like Kiev, then the experience of a big crowd playing against notable players won’t do the players no harm.

I join my Scottish counterpart Ian Rose in wishing the boys all the best, while at the same time hoping that Rangers also make it past Kaunas over the next week. As he said, the home nations need to stick together when it comes to European matches, and the same goes for us Irish with Scottish sides, immaterial of religious and sectarian backgrounds that at times blur the perspective. They don’t belong in football, so I have no qualms in wishing the ‘Gers all the best tonight and next week, along with Celtic upon their entry to the group stage. Maybe one day soon one of our lot might join the pair at that milestone, who knows, even despite the apparently insurmountible odds, the Drogs might be the first side to make it to that point after gloriously disposing of the Ukrainians and another top name in the next month or so….

…nah, just kidding, our boys have never done anything in Europe…

…nope, nothing that I can ever recall…

C’mon the Drogs!

Sliante Chugat everyone, talk to you later in the week.